I snapped up Affinity Designer the other day after watching their promotional video. So far, it well lives up to its promises and is as well-behaved as any software out there, legacy or not.

Serif is a company to watch. I'm sure their photo editing and page layout software will be equally good as Affinity Designer.

A new paradigm is upon us all...

I was also a big fan of FreeHand but I always hated Illustrator. Recently I have spent a lot of time on iDraw and really enjoy it. One advantage it has over Illustrator is that you can exchange files between iPad and Mac. Affinity Designer also looks interesting and I hope to give that a try as well.

Could also be an image issue. Not that CD has a bad image as such. But is seen first and foremost as a Windows program. And Windows is still even today and wrongly seen as inferior to the Mac platform. This makes many if not most within the design industry Mac biased. As a result, CD loses out on the Mac even though it is superior to Illustrator in many key areas and can even go toe to toe with InDesign for page layout too in many ways.

Serif make a wide range of programs for Windows, but have announced some new Mac progs. They'll be kicking of with one called Affinity:

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@Peter: I don't think that Corel has the ability (i.e. development staff) to do that, if their efforts on Painter is any indication. I had a very specific Mac-based issue and the Support guy didn't really know squat about Mac or OS X: he kept on referring me to MS support pages and using a lot of windows OS jargon to describe what I could try to solve the issue. Finally a fix was made and I was able to use the program. But he didn't share what was done to fix it or even what the issue was.

I think that even if Corel did develop a mac version of CD, it would have a steep hill to climb to get some acceptance in the Mac community, imho. If the slow and steady price climb of Painter is any indication, a Mac version of CD would be kinda spendy.

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Mike, it looks like we're spoilt here. The ability to input our wishes/rants which do get listened to; in a very short amount of time. There is definitely a feeling of ownership: i.e. AD is MY program ;)

My favourite quote was this, Serif is a company to watch. I reckon a few others will be saying this when Affinity release the Photo and Publisher in 2015.

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And about Serif and Affinity, this is one of the very few software vendors that actually get how to use and maintain a user site while leverage the new paradigms of interaction that the Internet has made possible. I've never used an app that had such a good forum and where the developers actually interact with the users. And on top of that, the honesty and straightforwardness of all on the Serif side is not only refreshing, but I feel it's about time somebody realizes that the Developer-User relationship requires a bit of give and take along with the occasional bit of plain talk without the usual talking points bland-speech. I think that engenders a lot of trust and on our (users) end a sense of "ownership" as you said.

BTW, when I upgraded to Yosemite, I also opted to upgrade Java RTE, and now Illustrator whines about not having the older version of Java. And you know what, I've not used Illustrator since. Don't miss it at all. AD does most of what I need to do and I've figured our temporary work-arounds for what it doesn't do (yet). I suspect when Affinity Photo gets released, I'll have the same feelings about PS, too. :)

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Fascinating discussion. I have an Adobe CC subscription which I really can't afford and a mid-2007 iMac (max 4GB RAM) which I can't afford to replace. I can't get Illustrator (which, like others, I consider inferior to Freehand) or Photoshop CC to work at all, while Affinity designer works very well on my decrepit machine. When Publisher becomes available, I'm hoping I'll be able to dump my Adobe subscription – but I may well go bust before then.

Incredible --- It was a very nice effect. They keep removing the great stuff and adding stuff no one needs.... Cant wait for AffinityImage.... I have been using PS since V1. The past 5 years, this wonderful software keeps getting slower and fuller of no-use features. First one had...

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I'm a graphic designer/software tester/interested in UX/loves illustration etc. I literally grew up with the Adobe Creative Suite. Now I'm working full time as a software tester, with a little design in my day job. But doing 1 project every 2-3 months Freelance design in my free time. I'm still using CS4 and can't afford the CS6 upgrade. CC subscription based model just doesn't make sense for me! I can't absorb the cost as my clients are often pro-bono/voluntary and/or spaced out. Adobe have made a killing being the "industry standard" and I am so so so happy to see someone else out there as worthy competition. Sure full time designers and big companies might be able to afford it, but for the little guys and gals out there just peddling what they love? No way.

I'm hanging in for Affinity Publisher. It's a core need for me in my publication design work. I'm also keen on seeing trace make its way into Affinity Designer eventually.

Will definitely be using Designer more to get my brain trained in the similarities and differences to get to equal training with things, so that I don't feel the need to go back to Illustrator or Photoshop to "just do that thing" cause it'd be quicker.

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yeah, not only do they taketh away, and foisteth upon, but they keep re-arranging the furniture, which is very bad UX...Changing key commands or methods, or where this or that feature is kept, or what it's named or how it works. One develops valuable, time-saving muscle memory of how to do things so that you eventually develop an "act without thinking" workflow, which ought to be the goal of any software developer.

Do you sit there and think about how to operate a pencil?

No!

You grab a pencil, some paper, and start drawing or writing some amazing creation.

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yeah, not only do they taketh away, and foisteth upon, but they keep re-arranging the furniture, which is very bad UX...Changing key commands or methods, or where this or that feature is kept, or what it's named or how it works. One develops valuable, time-saving muscle memory of how to do things so that you eventually develop an "act without thinking" workflow, which ought to be the goal of any software developer.

Do you sit there and think about how to operate a pencil?

No!

You grab a pencil, some paper, and start drawing or writing some amazing creation.